


Interlock

by Alexa_Piper



Series: The Notebook - Unrelated Danny Phantom Oneshots from 2013 to 2019 [14]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, I wrote this before I realised that Sam is Jewish, Pretty sure this was a Christmas Truce gift, So she has a Christmas tree in her house in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:27:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27211198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexa_Piper/pseuds/Alexa_Piper
Summary: "You know, I never thought that you'd be good at wrapping gifts."
Relationships: Danny Fenton/Sam Manson
Series: The Notebook - Unrelated Danny Phantom Oneshots from 2013 to 2019 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986457
Kudos: 3





	Interlock

Scissors slid through the paper with a pleasing sound, cutting a swathe from the roll in a single movement. Danny made a satisfied noise as he placed the square flat on the floor, accepting the next item to be wrapped from his companion.

"You know, I never thought that you'd be good at wrapping gifts," Sam said, offering her hand to the ghost boy. On each finger was a piece of sticky tape, one of which Danny snagged to anchor the paper to the box of fudge that he was currently wrapping. His eyes flicked to her face, unreadable in the firelight, before returning to the task at hand.

"I never thought you'd be one to invite me over to wrap gifts," he retorted.

Sam watched as his hands – one scarred and weathered, and the other nothing but glowing bones wrapped in a hand of ice – carefully smoothed the sparkly red paper across the surface of the box. Danny's wrapping was perfect, and if a wrinkle appeared at all, he'd simply tug on a corner here or there and everything would sit flat again. The halfa took another piece of tape from Sam's fingers, fastening the edge down before flipping the gift onto its side and proceeding to fold the corners in on themselves.

Sam shifted in her place on the carpet. "I thought that you'd want to get out of your house while your parents did the decorating."

Danny shrugged, an overlong fringe working with the firelight to shadow his expression as he bent close to the gift and deftly folded the corners against the side, fastening them with another piece of tape. "It helps," he muttered. He sat straight once more, the shadows falling from his face, and Sam knew him again. She leaned across, ignoring the way that Danny tensed as she picked a couple of pine needles from where they jutted from the weave of his nondescript grey jumper.

"How'd you go getting the tree?" she asked, ignoring how his shoulders relaxed only after she returned to her place and twirled one of the needles between the fingers of her free hand.

Turning the present so that its remaining open side faced him, Danny took the last piece of tape from Sam with a scowl. "As well as could be expected," he grumbled. "Dad wanted a tree that could withstand ectoblasts. Of course, nothing in town could stand against his new gun."

Sam turned towards the fireplace as though checking if it needed more fuel in order to hide her smirk. She flipped a split log onto the smouldering pile and watched as sparks burst up the chimney like stars blooming across the night sky. "So what did you do?" she asked without turning around.

Danny was silent for a moment, and Sam sighed at the sound of ribbon being drawn across the blade of the scissors. When the sound stopped, Danny mirrored her sigh with one of his own. There was the hint of an echo at the end of it, turning the sound into something soft and brittle, like a winter wind rustling dead leaves. "I ended up making one using my ice powers," he confessed.

Sam turned at this revelation, raising an eyebrow. Danny's nose crinkled in response, and he ducked his head in the pretence of fastening the lengths of curled ribbon to his father's gift. "Yeah, I made the tree," he repeated. "I froze a bunch of lights inside it and then carved frosted baubles and bows directly into the surface. All it needs now is the star on top."

Sam glanced at her own Christmas tree – a perfect plastic green, with beautiful white bows and silver baubles, coordinated perfectly by Pamela. The image of Danny spending hours decorating and inspecting and adjusting as her mother did was a difficult one to imagine, and Sam found her eyes drawn unbidden to his icy limb as she thought about it.

"The tree won't melt?" she asked.

Danny shook his head, following her gaze and flexing the fingers of his right hand in response. "Not unless I want it to," he confirmed, "or unless my powers are disabled. Mum's already put photos all over Facebook." He pulled a tag out of its package, printing Jack's name before fastening it to the box. Sam reached out for the completed gift as he passed it to her, their fingers brushing against each other's. His surrogate hand felt just as cold as it appeared, and Danny recoiled at the contact. He held his hand close to himself, pulling the sleeve down to cover it from sight.

"Oh, Danny," she sighed, placing the gift on the growing pile before drawing closer to her boyfriend. His expression was stricken, like something unthinkable had just taken place.

"I'm sorry," Danny said in a very small voice, that ever-present echo cracking as a frosting of ice began to flower across the pale skin of his cheeks. It was a defensive display from his core, and Sam's heart ached at the sight. He clutched his icy right hand close, eyes wide and shining blue despite the red and yellow flames beside them.

Sam reached for him, drawing his hands towards her and forcing them to uncurl. "It's okay," she soothed, moving so that she sat beside him, joined at shoulder and hip like matching pieces of a puzzle. Despite the frigidity of the faux hand, she twined her fingers between his.

Danny took a shuddering breath. "It's too cold for you," he insisted, but made no move to pull away.

His arm was pressed against her side, and Sam could feel the icy limb from bicep to fingertips through their layers of clothing. Danny sat still, head down again with the fleshy, normal fingers of his free hand twisting themselves in the hem of his jumper.

Sam gently extracted her numbing fingers from his hand, placing them beneath his chin. "Danny, look at me."

His cold breath ghosted across the space between them, chilling her nose as Danny's constantly-glowing eyes slowly lifted. Sam sighed before grasping the front of his clothing and pulling the halfa towards her, pressing their mouths together.

The first thing she registered, before the cold could hit, was that old tingling pleasure. For an instant, the kiss was no different from how their kisses had been before. Their mouths moved together, hers warming his frigid skin.

After a few seconds, the cold began to seep through her cheeks, and Sam gently pulled away.

Danny's mouth curved into a lazy smile, dark with her lipstick. "Wow," he breathed.

"It's not too cold," she answered, lacing her fingers in his once again.

His grasp tightened around hers, and Sam watched as the firelight played against the facets of the back of his hand. "It's not too… freakish?" he whispered.

Sam leaned over again, brushing her lips against the corner of his mouth in a butterfly touch. "I've always been into freakish things," she murmured huskily.

Danny took a sharp breath before tilting his head so that their lips touched completely. Sam closed her eyes as he pulled her close, and through their kisses she could feel him finally beginning to smile.


End file.
